Miscues Prove Costly in Football's Loss at Duke

Saturday, September 20

Durham, N.C.

11:30 AM

Tulane University

1-3

Duke

4-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane Green Wave

Duke

Miscues Prove Costly in Football's Loss at Duke

Sep 20, 2014 | Football

Box Score

Sept. 20, 2014

Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery

Tulane/Duke Game Book In PDF Format

DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore running back Lazedrick Thompson rattled off a career-best 124 rushing yards and one touchdown for the Tulane University football team on Saturday afternoon, but the Green Wave couldn't overcome several miscues in a, 47-13, loss to Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Tulane (1-3) turned the ball over five times and committed 13 penalties for 92 yards in the loss. Duke (4-0) turned those turnovers in 26 points to remain unbeaten in 2014.

"Duke is a very, very good team and is well coached by Coach (David) Cutcliffe," Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson said. "They ran the ball well and their quarterback (Anthony Boone) is very good. Their receiver (Jamison Crowder) is a high round draft pick and their defense was solid. Duke is where we want to be in a couple of years. They played a lot of young kids early on and now they are a very good program. We are also playing a lot of younger players right now and learning from our mistakes.

"For us, I thought Lazedrick Thompson played a great game. He did a very good job of running the football. I thought our young receivers played well, as well as our freshmen linebackers. On special teams, our deep snapper couldn't perform and didn't play so we had some miscues that we will address. Our quarterback needs to understand the structure of the defense better. We also can't continue to put him in third and long situations that often. He made some great plays, but also threw a couple to the defense," Johnson added.

Tulane finished the game with 215 rushing yards. In addition to Thompson's total, Dante Butler added 65 yard and Sherman Badie posted 39. Tanner Lee was 14-of-35 passing for 160 yards, but had three interceptions and failed to toss a touchdown for the first time on his young career.

Linebacker Nico Marley led Tulane with a career-high 12 tackles and a forced fumble, while Scofield added seven stops and a fumble recovery to go with his interception.

Duke took the opening kickoff of the game and marched 75 yards on seven plays. A 43-yard scamper by back-up quarterback Thomas Sirk proved to be the key play on the drive and set the Blue Devils up at the Tulane 23-yard line. Duke starting quarterback Anthony Boone reeled off three straight rushes before his final carry put him across the goal line from 11-yards out for the first points of the game.

Tulane answered the Duke score on its first possession with an 11-play, 85-yard drive that was culminated in a five-yard rushing touchdown by freshman running back Dontrell Hilliard and tied the game at 7-7.

On the ensuing possession, the Blue Devils used a 10-play, 81-yard play drive to regain the lead courtesy of a two-yard touchdown by Duke running back Josh Snead. The big play on the drive came through the air with Boone connecting on a 32-yard strike to Crowder, giving the home team a first goal on its one-yard line and Snead snuck in two plays later to make it 14-7.

From there, ill-timed mistakes began to haunt Tulane. Following the Duke score, Tulane went three-and-out and was set up to punt from its own 12-yard line. However, the snap to punter Peter Picerelli sailed high over his head and into the back of the end zone for a safety and handed the Blue Devils a 16-7 advantage.

The Tulane defense held Duke on fourth down on its next possession and looked to be in business. However, the Green Wave looked to be stalled following three plays foe virtually no gain, but a roughing the kicker call gave TU new life. Tulane relied on its ground game and ran seven straight plays down to the Duke 23-yard line. As the Wave looked to tack on more points, Duke's Jeremy Cash intercepted TU redshirt freshman Tanner Lee at the four-yard line to turn the visitors back.

Both teams traded punts before Duke used a 7-play, 56-yard drive to increase its advantage to 19-7 thanks to a 31-yard field goal by Ross Martin.

The Green Wave offense took the field with 4:21 remaining in the half and looked to get back into the game with a score of its own. Tulane once again turned to its running game with the trio of Badie, Butler, and Hilliard trading carries and leading the Wave down to the Duke 13-yard line. However, the Duke secondary once again staved off the threat with an interception off Lee by Zavier Carmichael at the eight-yard line.

Tulane senior safety Sam Scofield returned the favor a few plays later when he picked off Boone right before the half.

Duke and Tulane opened the third quarter with a pair of scores. Following a three-and-out by the Green Wave, the Blue Devils used a 7-play, 64-yard drive to add to its lead. Boone found receiver Jamison Crowder down the left side for a 48-yard gain. Duke then ran the ball seven straight times and Boone capped off the drive with a one-yard plunge to give his squad a 26-7 lead.

The Green Wave cut the deficit on its next possession thanks to a 12-play, 93-yard drive, which culminated in a four-yard touchdown run by Thompson. Freshman Andrew DiRocco missed the PAT, leaving the score, 26-13.

Duke took advantage of a third Tulane miscue near the end of third quarter. The TU defense held the Duke offense but a fumbled punt by the Green Wave set the Blue Devils up at the Tulane24-yard line and running back Shaun Wilson scored four plays later to extend the score to 33-13.

The Blue Devils tacked on a pair of fourth-quarter scores on two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. The first came on when Byron Field intercepted a Lee pass and returned it 22 yards for the touchdown. The second was after a bad snap on a punt attempt by Tulane and Rae Juan Marbley tried to make something happen and tossed a pass that was returned 12 yards for the score by Joseph Ajeigbe to make the score 47-13.

The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Sept. 27 when they travel to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers. Tulane's next home game is slated for Oct. 11 against American Athletic Conference foe UConn. Kickoff for that game is yet to be determined.

For tickets to that game, as well as future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283). The Tulane Ticket Office is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center and is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased on-line at the official website of Tulane Athletics - www.TulaneGreenWave.com.